How many people remember the young chicken hawk from the Foghorn Leghorn series?
Henery Hawk strikes out on his own for the first time, eager to capture (and presumably consume) a chicken. Having led a sheltered life, however, he does not know what a chicken looks like, only that chicken hawks eat them.
Because the chicken hawk is so naive, he is often misdirected and many times confused over what a real chicken looks like. Foghron Leghorn spends most his time attempting to convince young Henery Hawk that he is in fact not a chicken. Foghorn is much like the world of social media, big, confusing and often not taken seriously.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0Ur5Vd__wM]
Congratulations on making it to the second step, the hatchling. Much like our youthful friend Henery Hawk, you are taking your first steps, however your not sure about what you are seeking. You have heard how social media will increase your business and bring floods of new customers. You are starting to get your feet wet, but still not clear on what social media plan best suits your business needs.
Are you ready to travel into the world of social media without a plan? NO!! Here are a few steps for creating a social media plan that will be useful for your business or brand.
1. Don’t be the young chicken hawk, know what your “chicken” (your target) looks like. Determine what you want your social media plan to say about you or your company.
2. Determine which social media outlets works best to communicate with your customer/client base. Do you need to be formal, informal, educational, fun, visual, plain etc… The best social media outlet for you really comes down to what you need or want to communicate.
3. Which social media outlets are available for your brand. Are you able to secure your brand name on the outlets you want?
4. Stake claim to your brand! Mark your territory and grab your brand. The best piece of advice I received several years ago was to buy all my desired URL’s and when a new form of social media is introduced (Twitter sound familiar), grab your brands user name!
5. Measurables! How will you measure your success from the social media outlets, is it increasing traffic to your website, brand recognition or ROI? Determine how you will measure your success rate.
6. Engagement. Engage in the communities and media you are part of. Be an active participant in these groups, this will increase your visibility and knowledge. Genuine interaction within groups are useful, expected and required. Trolling does not help anyone, especially your business or brand!
Prepare your social media plan early, while you are still in the early stage. It will save you much time and energy, helping you to avoid the pitfalls (see video) of going into the social media world blindly!
